Expert Answers Google's Most Popular Questions About Jesus 

People talking about someone decades after the fact doesn't mean someone existed.. Paul had a so called hallucination .

The Life of Brian is probably more accurate in the actual rise of the cult of Jesus and Christianity than any believer would ever want to contemplate. Comedy gold indeed. It's one of the funniest movies ever made.

@@jdjones4825 Ya but it was 2000 years ago so that's really our evidence that any ancient historical figures existed some historian wrote is down some time, Jesus probably existed his 12 apostles went in pairs in 6 different directions some to India some to Rome some to Ethiopia 40 years after jesus's death the first gosepsl were written by the apostles followers writing down what they'd said so it's not just this one guy paul it's 12, also it would be a bit bizare if they made the whole thing up as a joke said it to people who didn't take kindly to it got martyred and then 2000 years later it's the worlds leading religion

@@smoutube1197we don't know if the deciples scriptures are legitimate and even if they are I think once the paul edits occurred the Christian branch of Judaism was eternally "bastardised" from its original free flowing sentiments..

It would have been nice if the hundreds of other men the Romans had killed because they claimed to be the 'Messiah' prior to the Jesus death had been examined. I've read elsewhere that it's at least 200. That's a lot of very naughty boys.

Really? She's so chock full of utter gibberish I can't cope and I've watch 11seconds and had to stop There is no one in history better attested: pliny the younger, Suetonius, Josephus, plus about 20 others independently attest Jesus. We know the sermons preached in corinth. from 17 years after the crucifixion. She's just a nut job with a badge mate

Don’t disagree with you, but I do wonder if you’re aware that people possessing more knowledge than world experts is the very basis of YT :-)

You do know that there are only so many books on this subject and anybody can read them and have an opinion about them just as valid as this professor. Most are on the internet.

@@paulryan5150 OK, but being a professor is way above the level of "reading all the books". She spends her life attending conferences, reading academic papers from all over the world, doing original research in museums, writing papers, which are then peer reviewed. She'll be up-to-date on all the latest ideas and will be expected to have an informed opinion on them and she'll also be asked to review them. She's probably able to read ancient Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. She's been doing this for decades. She might even have to do some teaching! If you're not an academic, you don't have access to this world.

I wish this was more in-depth and she presented the actual evidence for the claims she makes. You could do an entire hour long video on the evidence that Jesus dressed like a Roman and had short hair. I'd be interested in that.

@@FleurPillager Helen has a lot of content on RU-vid and has written a lot of books

that shows she is not fit for the job.

@@MrCopyrat It's lucky you are not in charge of a university!

Bingo!

She's a member of the church of Scotland....

@@joshuataylor3550 ...and?

@Letsthinkaboutit-mb7nn I publicly declare that you’re a divine being. Now we need exceptionally good evidence to be sure you’re a real person.

There are no historical accounts. A couple of guys a generation or two afterwards who claim to be his inheritors of authority are hardly unbiased sources

​@Letsthinkaboutit-mb7nn I completely disagree. There is enough in the New Testament that are not fanciful stories of miracles etc to believe these are actual people. As mentioned, the best evidence is the crucifixion in that it would make no sense to make up a religion on that basis. There is plenty of other very good circumstantial reasons to mean the default is that he was real. Whether we know a single thing about him other than that he was crucified is another matter entirely.

Sadly Atheist with Argue over anything that claims Christ Was actually a Real Person. Making her fair game.

​@maxdecimus13 the crucifixion is a very important part of Christianity. Jesus suffering and dying for our sins, supposedly.

As an atheist, I despair at the levels some people go to to assert he didn't exist. It is pure wishful thinking. If you use Occam's razor, it is far far more likely that a ten-a-penny preacher was crucified and then his supporters spun the story in a way that resonated with people, than the idea that a group of people purposely invented a logically inconsistent story based around a guy being crucified. It literally makes no sense.

I'd like to remind you that history is not a political numbers game, and everything not written AT THE TIME is not valid evidence of anything, but gossip and spin.

I deny his existence

😊 pop pop

@@87tinman then he will deny you. Repent brother, do you really think you’re perfect?

She's just saying it in the proper english way my dear chap

He existed just as much as the other thousands of guys named jesus existed. Throw in a bunch of writers and storytellers (with various agendas) and you've got entertaining fairy tales at the very least.

@@LP-jn4tw Throw in a few messianic expectations and you have a rock and roll band.

No, actually, they're not. But for some strange reason, we give Jesus a pass on actual evidence.

@@steveofthewildnorth7493no, actually, we don’t. Fortunately most people aren’t ideologically obsessed atheists who want to contort history to suit their own purposes.

@@steveofthewildnorth7493 Xtian apologists do but critical biblical scholars who do scholarship based on evidence do think a traveling apocalyptic Jewish preacher named Jesus was around at the time and had a following. It obviously does not mean Christian teachings themselves are true, just that he was probably a guy who existed. Look up "Direct archaeological evidence for a historical Jesus?" by Dan McClellan on RU-vid.

She says, "...the kind of burial that someone who's been executed is more likely to have had." (20:11)

Me too. But some people nowadays are seem to be very bitter at Christianity to the point they love to deny historicity of Jesus and keep mocking every expert who doesn't agree with them and seem to be trigger at any mention of Jesus. (And there is of course the other group - overly-religious ones who reject any critical academic discourse.) It's so sad how fanatical are both sides.

There were many different forms of Christianity at that time. 'Heresy:Jesus Christ and the other Sons of God'by Catherine Nixey is a very good book on the subject.

None of that makes any sense, because Christianity as we understand it, did not exist before the council of nicea 325 CE and the first evidence of AD dating ocurrs in the 6th century.

I can tell you that from a Roman perspective, Christians were seen as a Jewish sect until the reign of Vespasian in 70 AD. This indicates that most Christians at the time looked and acted like other Jews.

I suppose the question is when does something become a separate religion rather than a branch of a religion or some members of a religion that have slightly different views than the mainstream This happens all the time in Christianity and islam and judaism but we dont count them as separate religions

How dare you bring common sense into this!

It is quite common theology and has been for more than 200 years now.

@andreascj73 what is the point of your comment? I go online and make a positive comment, you don't know anything about me, and your instinct is to condescendly come on to point out something I already know? Just keep your mouth shut buddy, and move on.

@@mike9512 Nothing condescending in my comment. But this is common theological knowledge. It would have been the same if you were surprised by some common medical knowledge and thought it refreshing being a former football coach or something, and you were told by a doctor that it is common knowledge. Instinct? There is no instinct in replying to a comment, mate.

@@andreascj73 Ask a mate to reread your response. It does legit look like your instinct was to condescend. Your follow-up makes it look even more so.

@@BadgerUKvideo I actually don't care how it appears tbh. Common knowledge among theologians is common knowledge among theologians.

Was she wild back then?

Was she assuming crap then too?

Was she guessing at the life story of fictional characters then too?

@@dh7314 Do you think other historical figures are fictional too? Dido? Henry the 8th?

Who?

Do you realize how many times the word "probably" figured into the conclusions you've drawn?

@@pirththee Do you realise it's impossible to talk about anybody without probabilities, let alone somebody 2000 years in the past?

@@andrasszabo1570 Here's a phrase that is helpful in situations like you're describing. "I don't know" It's a quaint little phrase that trumps all probabilities and suppositions..

@@pirththeewhat? Are you saying it’s NOT probably true that Mohammed split the moon in half, Joseph Smith found gold plates and Olifat causes mischief in Micronesia? Well, as the first MusMormOliest, I can say that those things ABSOLUTELY, 100% happened*. *probably

They certainly were by the early Empire.

Pliny was some time after Jesus died, and what he refers to is the Christians that he was dealing with whilst Governer of Bithynia in 110 AD, and what you refer to is his letter to Trajan and how he was to deal with the Christian community from a judical point of biew. He never actually uses the name Jesus, but rather Christ ( and not identified as a person, and the term was "as to 'a' god" of which the Romans had many and allowed the belief of a huge amount of others. So Pliny can be used regarding the early christian movements spread but nothing about Jesus as a person or him ever existing in reality

Well, there's Joshua in English, Jussi in Finnish, Giosue in Italian, Iosua in Romanian, aaand so on. Not Jesus exactly, but then according to the video, Jesus wasn't named Jesus either 😅

It's because in Spain in the 1500s there arose the last name ''De Jesus'' (which means ''Of Jesus'' in Spanish) This last name became very popular in Spain and so people in Spain got used to seeing ''Jesus'' in people's names. And so by the 1700s some people just started naming boys ''Jesus'' and it became a common name in Spain and other Spanish speaking places.

@@AleksiJoensuu Giosue, Iosua, Jussi, all just mean ''Josepth''. not Jesus. Are you saying that ''Jose'' in Spanish means Jesus too?

@@robiking011 Did you watch this video? If not, see 0:38 - 0:52.

@@AleksiJoensuu What does that have to do with anything? She never says that Giosue, Iosua, Jussi all mean Jesus.

Josephus was born decades after Jesus alleged death, Jesus didn't appear in Josephus's first history ,but only in his second history which overlapped dates, Josephus's 2nd history followed the Roman propaganda of the time which Josephus was personally beholden to.

Josephus is a later Greek source widely debunked in actual scholarship. It's generally the bible bashers who tout Josephus about, usually misquoting him and giving him more credit than deserved

@@infozencentre No, Josephus was a Jewish historian that apologists hate since he exposes lots of blunders in Luke-Acts as he had access to actual Roman records since he was close with the Flavians.

@@infozencentre Jospehus was Jewish not Greek and he wasn't debunked. He is widely regarded as non-Christian source on Jesus, though it is agreed his fragment was subject to some inetroplation.

The Jews were not allowed to administer capital punishment under the Romans. The gospels say that the Jews incited Pilate and the Romans to crucify him by charging him rebellion against Rome.

Blasphemy was the temple authorities acussation. But he was presented as a rebell against Rome to Pilatos. That Is why pilatos first really doesnt care, and the reason jesus Is mocked as a false king of the jews. A messiah Is both a religious and polítical figure.

Another way you can read this from the eyes of Apostle Paul is that although you are right that he shouldn’t have been hanged on a tree for blasphemy, God purposefully made it so so he can rightfully redeem us from the curse of the law as it is written in Galatians 3:13 - ”Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”[h] 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus” Deuteronomy 21:22-23 says “a hanged man is cursed by God”.

It's a story

You forgot about the thieves crucified near Jesus.

That's how the gospels tell it, but they're a biased source. The other sources we have just don't give details about it - Josephus just says there was a preacher called Jesus who got executed. (and had a big following that didn't dissolve after his death.) The general idea that the politically powerful folks in the area didn't want him starting a revolt does make sense, though.

They could have him put to death for blasphemy, ie stoned to death, but as he seemingly avoided that, then they used first Herods and then Pilates fear of insurrection to have him dealt with under civil law rather than religous law. Judea and the whole of the Levant was a powder keg, and Pilate would not want to be seen as the person that allowed the whole thing to go up, so if he deemed Jesus to be an instigator of Jewish Independence ie a messiah, then he would want to suppress that very quickly.....so false witnesses were probably used to convince Pilate that Jesus preached insurrection and independence from Rome......nothing about him being King or his religeous views.

There is no contemporary evidence to suport any of this.

​@jeffmartin5419 Josephus was a Jewish historian, and the mainstream Jews considered Jesus a heretic. To claim that the gospels are biased as historical documents, but that counterclaims written by someone with an opposing ideology are not is intellectually dishonest.

​@wiretamer5710 the gospels and writings of Paul are contemporary historical documents. Whether or not you believe they are divinely inspired is irrelevant. The fact is they are part of the historical record, and they were written within living memory of the events described.

I dunno, I’d prefer someone inexperienced on camera to look past me but talk comfortably than getting unnerved looking down the lens. It takes practice to get good at that.

The Romans who kept metuculous records also never recorded a census at that time.

@@lizzieh5284 they did a census as recored in the birth of Jesus stories. Dont forget populations were less in those days and population growth was slower so census was not required as often.

@@lizzieh5284 The Census of Quirinius was a census of the Roman province of Judaea taken in 6 CE, upon its formation, by the governor of Roman Syria, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius. This is the one most likely to be the census recorded in the New Testament

@@williamfletcher5760 but in the bible it states that Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem for a census. There is no record of this written by the Romans. 'Birth of Jesus stories' - exactly that 'stories'.

@@lizzieh5284 see the reply sowing the roman census

Yes, you could but it would be rather imprecise.

Not that phrase exactly; leave off the apostrophe in “Christians.”

You could have stopped with "Early Christians want to imagine", because that says it all.

@@pirththeeyeah, that says it all! Ancient writers wrote things!!! Why so any more!?!?!

@@JohnD808 "Early Christians want to imagine" as the phrase used not "wrote things". What's with you trying to rewrite the sentence now?

She nowhere says this. Yes, examinibg Jesus's life is based on assumptions. But there is nothing wrong with making assumptions and trying make the most probable scenario.

@@pendragonsxskywalkers9518 She says this right in the first 25 percent of the video after mentioning Jesus' crucifixion. 2 different sources mention it, so she says in a convoluted way that it must be true. I'm not saying it isn't. I'm saying her logic is ridiculous. with her logic we can talk in the same way about Zeus or Hercules or Robin Hood

@@VinnieG- It's not the same. Zeus wa snever claim to be human in first place. Robin is character from folklore.

Whats the alternative that 12 guys met up and made up a elaborate scam spent the rest of their life peddling it facing persecution never asking for personal favours and ultimalty getting killed then a christian hunter named paul has a road to damascus moment and helps spread it as the second generation of christians rise writing down what the 12 apolstles said in over 60 differnt gospels in 60 differnt places also risking life and limb under roman persecution to spread their religion that seems more ridiculous

Good luck finding objectivity on this subject.

He's mentioned in the Pauline Epistles about 20 yrs after his death. The scholarly consensus is that a traveling apocalyptic preacher named Jesus existed and had a following but obviously the religious stuff and miracle claims are unprovable.

@@preciousmourning8310 Can one cite those that comprise ones scholarly consensus?.

@@pirththee Look up the critical biblical scholar Dan McClellan here on RU-vid, he has a PhD in the Bible and the cognitive science of religion. Especially relevant is his video: "Direct archaeological evidence for a historical Jesus?".

@@preciousmourning8310 That's one source I believe you talked about a consensus which implies more than one..

My understanding is it was usually suffocation. The longer you're up there the harder it is to support your own weight, eventually you hang by your arms and it becomes hard to breathe. You could also die from dehydration. I found it interesting the two images she showed had the nails through his hands, when they should be through his wrists. You can't hang by just the skin between your fingers, the nails would eventually rip through. In Jesus' case if he was only up there a few hours, he probably died from artistic interpretation.

I'm not sure regarding the nail to the forehead, but presuming that the crucification is in the form of the traditional cross. 1.) Hypovolemic shock: Having your radial arteries severed alongside other blood vessels will lead to a gradual loss in blood over time; whether or not it will be sufficient to lead to hypovolemic shock, where the heart no longer is able to adequately perfuse blood throughout your arteries and return them via veins, is unclear and likely varies based on the nail size as well as the location and trauma to the surrounding tissues. What is clear is that your entire body weight resting upon the nail will further damage tissue and help prevent clotting which would further blood loss. 2.) Exposure: being stripped naked, and slowly drained of blood or losing a significant volume of blood, as well as likely being malnourished and exposed to a.) nights and b.) winds would rapidly deplete your body of energy, and all of these factors would decrease the ability of your body to properly thermoregulate. You become hypothermic and your core body temperature gradually decreases until your heart has dysfunctions that leads to death, or you fail to oxygenate your tissues properly and functionally die of suffocation. 3.) Malnutrition and starvation and/or infection & septic shock. Jesus is presumed to have been stabbed by a spear, this injury is categorically what would have killed him, based on what I have been exposed to. Romans typically left the crucified alive, up there, for days on end until the elements take them. So considering the physical trauma, as well as the cyclic heating leading to dehydration and baking during the days and increasing fluid loss (thus worsening hypovolemia) and freezing at nights, leading to greater energy expenditures, your head once again gives out. If you happen to get an infection during this time period, you are severely immunocompromised and it could lead to septic shock, but I would bet money the other issues kill you first.

Nothing that this person says is actual, truthful, plausible. Historical.....

Show me the bones Sasquatch

Get a hobby. Learn to paint. Houses

@@drew8305What are you on about?

Same here! His impact on the world is enormous, up there with the likes of Caesar and Alexander the Great.

No idea what you mean. None is talking here jokes.

I'm surprised she didn't wear a tinfoil hat

The gospel which talks about it it's a forgery from the XIX century.

The gospel which talks about it it's a forgery from the XIX century.

@@infozencentre Sorry. I don't understand.

@@arturmangolim9385 ? There isn't a gospel that talks about it. It's an Ahmadi myth, isn't it? If your going to talk about the 2 fake Jesus graves in Jerusalem, why not mention the much more interesting Ahmadi version?

😂😂😂

Would depend on what they ate for dinner the previous day.

According to the gospels, Thomas definitely believed only after he was raised from the dead.

Thomas did. John 20:28

Which one? There are two

I think you somewhat missed the point.

Exactly he was probably a nut leading a small cult preaching against the romans and was executed like all the other people who were doing similar things at the time as the romans saw this as trying to incite rebellion among the Jewish population. His later followers were successful in crafting his story to blame the Jews so they could then be accepted as a religion in the Roman Empire.

Philo never wrote about John the Baptist. the High Priests or Roman Governors of Judea other than Pontius Pilate so that's not much of an argument.

There are many other sources from Roman and Judaic writers with no interest in Christianity and they nevertheless reported the life of Jesus. There's no doubt Jesus is a historical figure in the sense that he was a preacher in Judea, he died on the cross, and this happened during Tiberius's reign. @Tsumami__ I'm not even a Christian, you genius

Probably many street preachers with that name were roaming around with small bands of followers lol

@@antoniousai1989No. your belief does not make him a historical figure. And religious apologists are not historians.

There are lots of videos about Mohammed.

Wrong completely. The Horus Manure has long been debunked to the point anyone repeating might as well say they also believe in UFOs. For one, here was how Horus was actually Conceived. "After Osiris' death, Isis gathered up the pieces of his body and brought him back to life long enough to CONCEIVE Horus. According to some versions of the myth, Isis used her magical powers to resurrect Osiris and then COPULATED with him, resulting in the conception of Horus. In other versions, Isis used a magical spell to create a PHALLUS for Osiris, allowing her to conceive Horus without actual physical contact. This mythological detail highlights the importance of Isis' magical powers and her role as a powerful female deity." Horus wasn't even born from a Virgin. Isis CLEARLY had to knock up Osiris Reanimated Corpse to guve birth to Horus.

So many crackheads here

Scholars believe there was a Jewish man named Jesus who traveled around in that time period and had apocalyptic teachings but obviously those miracles are not something that can be proven.

That IS the whole point: nothing was written down when he lived. Despite his “miracles”…

@@TheStijg I find this very bizarre. A person with powerful, god-like skills and abilities was never mentioned. Nobody abducted him to use his skills. He could resurrect the dead. How incredible is that? He could change one substance into another. That's incredible. The Roman Empire was very bureaucratic, they wrote about everything worth mentioning and a person with magical abilities was certainly worth noting. The gospels were written by people who had never seen Jesus in person. Never. They weren't even close to him.

@@oldi184 You didn't listen her - there were many figures of miracle performers. Jesus wasn't so special to outsiders. It was his followers that made mark on history.

@@pendragonsxskywalkers9518 I think Jesus did not exist. She often said that there is no good, hard evidence that Jesus Christ was real. And why the New Testament was written in Greek? Why not in Aramaic?

Lmaoooo nooo

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Genius.

What is had to do with anything?

Most disciples were illiterate. Message had to first got to people who could write. Also - you shoulnd't assume there were no prior records. There could be earlier writings than simply did not survive.

this is not what the parable of the fruit tree is saying, and what you are saying is not taught anywhere in scripture, it aswell contradict scripture.

@@tonygardiner5585 I am only learning. If I am wrong, I will apologize. I don't think that God would condemn me for eternity if I got something wrong in His word while learning from Him. I'm moreso sure that He will correct me.

Right? This woman seems like someone who knows just enough to be wrong. Yes, African slaves in the South all wanted George Washingtons wig makers business card, too.

I doubt anyone in the Levant would have given it a second thought.

What a random takeaway

@@cleverusername9369 So much for relevant content.

She might be, I've done a little bit of filming before where I've been interviewed about my work and you talk to the person opposite you rather than direct to the camera.

I agree,its irritating.

I didn’t say the content wasn’t relevant I just found it distracting

Yes? Jewish has always been both an ethnicity in and of itself, and the name of a religious affiliation… you’ve never heard of, for example, an Ashkenazi Jewish person?

Well we turn the other cheek and that's a quality I admire

A soft target? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA yes, the most brutal and controlling, and largest religious denomination in the world is totally “a soft target”. Give me a break. Yall are always oppressing while claiming to be oppressed. This is why the world is quickly becoming done with Christianity.

@@SassyUnicorn86Christians never turn the other cheek. Considering your deity told you to enslave other nations and wipe them out to the last infant “dash the infants against the rocks” - and to be JOYOUS while yall do so….no. Turning the other cheek is not what Christians are about.

Of course they are expected, you've had thousands of years to prove your religion is true and you have nothing, either get some evidence or stop whining when people call you out on your lies. As for a Muslim Q&A, Muslims are not like you. Muslims do not go online, talk shit about their prophet, and then wonder why people don't like them.

Muhammad? there is more proof that he was real than there is of Jesus being a real person. Either way, God isn't real.

Yes and yes.

@@babyboomerang8595 No - according Bible he had it as infant, not as teenager.

If you believe gospels then he had - but as infant, not at age 13.

@@pendragonsxskywalkers9518 ?! Maybe read the OP again! Carefully!

@@babyboomerang8595 OP asked wheter Jesus had procdeure when he was 13. I answered - yes, he had, but not at 13.

Lol ,🤣as long as your convinced

🏅 gold star for mental gymnastics

yeah, no lulz

Also, don’t forget the evidence in Pompeii. Also, saying their is no evidence of Jesus is like saying theirs no evidence that Caesar lived. We believe Caesar lived because we see the evidence in the record as a result of his life and it’s implications. I love how people want to apply a different standard to Jesus then they do any other historical figures.

Lots of Reddit atheists in these comments

No. They are just questions. Why are you afraid?

As beliwver myself - Moses and Abraham were NOT real. They were fictional characters from mythological tales. Jesus was historical. Former two - not.

ya like man being a women?

Really? Which ones, and why?

She's an academic expert. These are not assumptions.

@@JohnD808 i’ve already posted below another comment explaining

@@aps-pictures9335 Post again in THIS section. Not everyone has time to scroll few hundred comments.

Wow, that's extremely patronizing.

@@LeandroCapstick You say that, but I am from a distant far off time where it was acceptable to compliment a person, sadly we live in strange times where positive comments are construed as insults, I won’t be changing my ways for anyone though, I’ll keep on saying it as I see it, eventually everything will go full circle and the world will catch back up with me 👍🙂